Depollution system faulty

My peugeot 407, 1, 6 HDI comes whit engine symbol in the display and message, "depollution system faulty" in the radio display. After driveing the car at home at slow speed the cooling fan starts when I stop the engine. Engine temperature was at 70 degrees Celsius, and the fan would normaly not start.
My local garage found error code P0100 and P0238.
This has happened 3 times in the last 4 months.
The first time it happened I was driveing at slow speed (50 km/h)and it was raining. The second and third time it was cold, I was driveing at 70 - 75 km/h
and accellerating to 85 - 90 km/h when the warnig appered.
The total mileage of the car is 65000 km.
When the error codes have been reset the engine
runs normal again.
any ideas what this may be, or what I can do to fix the problem?
Morten JD38283

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Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 AT 1:13 PM

2 Replies

DAVE H

EXPERT

Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) Or Anti polution Filter

Particulates, or soot particles are the most visible of the pollutants emitted from the exhaust of a diesel engine, they consist of large carbon particles with other attached and absorbed chemicals. Particulates in addition to being visible are toxic and carcinogenic, and the smaller particle of less than 10 microns (known as PM10s) can penetrate deep into the lungs causing respiratory problems. With the increased use of diesel engines, the increase in air borne particulates is becoming an increasing environmental issue.

These solid emissions can be effectively reduced by filtration of the exhaust. The most effective and practical method is by using a ceramic filter sustrate, usually silicone carbide with microporus walls. This traps the solid particles and allows the gasses to escape through the wall and is vented into the exhaust outlet.
The collected soot builds up within the filter, which will clog and eventually block resulting in a build up of engine back pressure unless it is removed, which is achieved by a process known as regeneration.
Regeneration is achieved by burning the collected soot within the filter, either actively or passively. In an active system a separate, usually electrical, heat source is applied to raise the temperature to a point where the carbon particles are burnt off to produce CO2. In the passive system the heat of the engine exhaust gas is used in conjunction with a special catalytic coating on the filter to achieve the same result

when the anti pollution light came on! It was simply telling you that the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) was almost full of soot and the car needed to be driven for 30 miles or so at 40 - 50 mph or above to burn off the accumulated soot and clear the filter. This is not a fault with the car - simply a feature of cars with a DPF. (I often get asked why you can't simply change the filter rather than wasting fuel going for a long drive to clear it. The answer is, you can. The cost is between 1000/ 2000, which makes that drive look suddenly economical).

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Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 AT 8:14 PM

JD38283

MEMBER

Hi. Thanks for your answer.
I tried driveing my car for about 80 - 90 km/h for 100 km only haveing a short stop about half way when this message apered again. The motorsymbol in my instrumentpanel did not disappear! It is still on even after turneing off the ignition and restarting the engine.
Is there an other possible solution to this problem?
Morten.